Abstract
SEED of marrow stem kale was sown in August and the plants transplanted to permanent quarters in October. Approximately half of the plants flowered in the following spring. The non-flowering plants continued their vegetative growth and were sampled by the ‘perfect plant method’ in the following October. Dry-matter production (excluding roots) was equivalent to 9.7 (from an August 4 sowing) and 7.6 (from an August 19 sowing) tons per acre. If we neglect the weight of the plants at transplanting time this represents a complete year's production of dry matter. Plants from later August and September sowings, transplanted in April, produced by October 8.6 and 6.2 tons of dry matter (excluding roots) per acre. Comparable production figures for thousand-headed kale from these later sowings were 7.7 and 6.2 tons. These figures represent a production of dry-matter two or three times as great as that obtained when the kales are sown in the traditional manner in April, and much in excess of that obtained with other agricultural crops. They may be compared with the annual dry matter production of 7.6 for the evergreen Pinus1, 3.2 for birch2, and 1.6–5.6 tons per acre for natural herbaceous vegetation3.
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References
Ovington, J. D., Ann. Bot., N.S., 21, 287 (1957).
Ovington, J. D., and Madgeworth, H. A. I., Plant and Soil, 10, 271 (1959).
Pearsall, W. H., and Gorham, E., Oikos, 7, 193 (1956).
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WARNE, L. Potential Productivity of Marrow Stem and Thousand-headed Kale. Nature 192, 579 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/192579a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/192579a0
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